Episode 031 – How to Use a Company to Legally Reduce Taxes | Hustle to Independence

Today we talk to Jons from the Netherlands who is currently living and working in China. He runs an IT agency in Hong Kong and is involved in a company based in Estonia, using both to manage his investments and legally reduce taxes 💁.

We also talk about:

The advantages of the e-Residency program of Estonia compared to other countries

Living in China and investing worldwide

Jons lives and works in China: his status of University teacher grants him a visa for a legal long-term stay, along with the base income for all his daily needs. Not a bad deal.

From there, he manages two companies, a consultancy company for online business in China based in Hong Kong – which he started – and an online services provider based in Estonia, where he bought a minority share. Jons uses these multiple companies as diversify and legally reduce taxes. It may take a little bit of money and effort at the beginning, but considering what he saves over the years it’s definitely worth it. We talk about how he’s done this and how anyone else can too 😎

Accelerating his FI journey using different tax systems

The main factor behind the decision to live abroad and start companies in other countries lies in the optimisation of using different tax systems.

For example, the Estonian e-Residency program allows anyone from anywhere in the world to establish and manage a company based in the EU completely online (for more info, check out our interview with the Micropreneur on how to set up your Estonian company). He also takes advantage of Hong Kong’s tax system to manage his own business. Some clever thinking there.

Different cultures, new opportunities

With technology and all this amazing information, optimising taxes is now available to pretty much anyone.

Jons tells us however, that it’s important to do your research and hire the right people. Also, you have to be willing to maybe change culture, or live in a new country. He talks to us about a funny episode involving a Chinese man and a knife (more deets in the episode 😛).

Thanks for the great question. I will have to write a more detailed response later on because otherwise, I can only give you a generic nonsense answer.
I am planning to write a more detailed article on this but for your specific situation, could you send an email to financialindependenceeurope@gmail.com with some background information (age, amount, where you are from etc) and I will try to provide you with sources that help. You can also post in it the comments if you prefer that.